


I take a pause (you take a break)

by ATiredNarwhal



Series: Emergency Response AU [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Ace!Jonathan, Asexual Jonathan Byers, Background Poly, Bisexual Nancy Wheeler, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Domestic Fluff, EMT!jonathan, EMT!nancy, Emergency Response AU, Gay Barbara "Barb" Holland, Gay Billy Hargrove, I'm changing things up, Lesbian!Barb, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Steve is bad at the healthier side of communication, breakfast time, cop!steve, firefighter!billy, hope it works
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-15 22:12:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17537255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ATiredNarwhal/pseuds/ATiredNarwhal
Summary: Another drabble in the Emergency Response Series,this time some domestic happeningsAKA they all have breakfast together and Billy is taken into The Circle





	I take a pause (you take a break)

**Author's Note:**

> AHHHHH I'm trying something out I hope this works  
> I was feeling sad so I wrote this  
> Fun Fact: I'm panpolyam (pansexual / polyamorous)  
> And I like my characters to be the same and LGBTQ+, because why have a love triangle when you can have a triad, or a beautiful V dynamic.  
> ANd why stop with just three? Let's add another, or two, or three... Robin I'm ready for you.  
> SO if you don't like any of these things, this one is probably not for you  
> which is fine, I won't make you read it.  
> But it would please me if you did.
> 
> Enjoy

Steve came awake like he always does, a disoriented jolt. He’s in his bed, the alarm clock reads 5:05 am, and there is another person under the covers. Hogging them, actually. He sits up and yawns with a stretch, but Billy is dead to the world still. Understandable, he had a long day yesterday. Steve gets up and heads to the bathroom, taking care of the necessities, like urinating and brushing his teeth, before finding a pair of jeans he thinks is his off the floor and pulling them on.

He heads out the back door. Retraces his steps back into the house, finds a piece of scrap paper, and scribbles down a note for Billy.

 _Headed next door_.

Satisfied, he heads out the backdoor again, ambles from his backyard to the next patch of grass Jonathan and Nancy call their backyard, and opens the sliding backdoor to their house. Jonathan is, as expected, making breakfast.

“Hey,” Jonathan says, but doesn’t look up from the eggs he’s scrambling.

“Hey yourself,” Steve shoots back, heading straight for the coffee pot.

If there’s anything that Steve has learned, and taken to heart, from the Chief, it’s that mornings are for coffee and contemplation. And Jonathan makes the best coffee. At least, it feels like the best thing heaven can offer on mornings like this. So, they exist in silence, Steve working on his first cup of coffee, and Jonathan fixing breakfast.

The third cup is when talking is allowed, though Steve has no idea which cup this is for Jonathan, but who can tell? Jonathan has perpetual bags under his eyes, and the posture of a man who carries too much weight on his shoulders. Steve secretly thinks Jonathan could sleep for a whole year and still awake up tired.

“So, where’s Nancy?”

Jonathan heaves a sigh as he gets the hash browns ready, “man, we got back from shift last night and she said she wanted to do a little studying before bed. I don’t know when she finally _came_ to bed, but she fell asleep with one of her textbooks on the nightstand.”

“Dude, that’s rough,” Steve sips his coffee, thankful to have his own training over and done with.

“I swear it’s going to kill her. I got up and she didn’t even stir. Checked her pulse just to make sure.”

“I take it she was still with the living?”

“Steady and strong, as always. I don’t know how she does it.”

Jonathan plated some eggs, sausage, and hash browns and slid the plate over to Steve. Steve was just starting to dig in when they heard a tapping at the sliding door. It was Billy, in tight jeans and a rumbled shirt he had also probably got off the floor. Steve made a motion for him to come in. Billy let himself in and gave Steve self-assured grin.

“I knew I’d find you here.”

Steve scoffs, as if the asshole would have any idea where Steve had gone if he hadn’t left the note.

“Sure, sure. Have some breakfast.”

Jonathan already has another plate ready and is setting it down at the table setting next to Steve. He points Billy to the coffee pot.

“Mugs are in the cupboard above,” Jonathan moves back to making more food.

Billy gives him a weird side-eye look, but goes about getting his coffee. There’s cream and sugar set out, so Billy puts a little sugar in his coffee, tastes it, then adds another spoonful because _wow_ that’s powerful stuff. Steve snickers at him as he sits down to eat.

“You put _sugar_ in your coffee? Got a sweet tooth I don’t know about?”

“Hey, I don’t want to hear that shit from the person who I’ve seen put _just cream_ in their coffee. That’s just, like, milky water. Gross.”

Steve didn’t want to hear _that_ from the man that he had sex with last night, who, instead of leaving to go back to the firehouse like he usually did, fell asleep _butt naked_ in _his_ bed, so Steve awkwardly put on his usual boxers and night shirt because, um, he gets cold at night, and Billy stole all the covers, and is probably is going commando _right now_.

“You’re gross. I haven’t had enough coffee for you to talk to me yet,” he says instead and gets up the refill his cup.

Billy forks up some eggs and smiles.

“So,” Jonathan interrupts, “Billy, this is your first time with us. Are you usually not a morning person?”

“I’m an all-the-time kind of guy, sweetheart. I just happen to have the day off today and didn’t feel like leaving Steve’s bed last night.”

If Billy is trying to get a reaction out of Jonathan, Steve thinks, it’s not working.

Jonathan nods and fusses with the eggs he’s cooking, “that makes sense. Well, you’re welcome anytime.”

And that’s true, Steve thinks again, it’s not like there’s not enough food to go around. Jonathan always cooks like he’s got an army to feed. And, maybe he does, Steve muses as he finishes of his plate and goes to get seconds from the first batch of food warming in the oven. It’s about then that Nancy enters the kitchen, textbook open and in hand, and sits at her usual spot at the tablet. She takes the highlighter from between her teeth and starts marking and circling the texts on the pages.

“Good morning Nancy,” Steve leans his head onto his hand and smiles at her.

“’morning…” she mumbles back. Jonathan set a mug filled with fresh coffee next to her. She gulps it down like its water and resumes her reading and highlighting. Billy stares at her like she’s an alien.

“Nancy is studying to get her certification to become a paramedic,” Steve supplies.

“And because if it, she hasn’t been laid in months, so she’s extra cranky,” Jonathan says from the stove.

“What? What about that girl your seeing, Barb, right?”

“Barbara has been working on her nursing degree lately, so they haven’t had time to get together,” Jonathan answers Steve’s question.

“Too busy,” Nancy adds.

“…Wait.”

Steve and Jonathan turn to Billy, Nancy seems too preoccupied.

“I thought Nancy and Jonny here were together.”

“They are, sort of,” Steve shrugs, “They share a bed.”

“I’m not really into having sex,” Jonathan supplies.

“Oh…” Billy looks a little uncomfortable, “And that, like, works for you guys?”

“Yeah it works for us,” Steve takes a bite of sausage. He always saves his hash browns for last because Jonathan makes _the best_ hash browns.

“Us.”

“Yeah,” Jonathan sets a plate of food in front of Nancy, and serves himself, “Steve and Nancy used to date, but now they just have sex every now and then.”

Billy turns to Steve, who gives Billy a look, “what, I already _told_ you this.”

“Yeah but you didn’t say _who._ ”

“Does it matter?”

“Well, _no_ , but I’d like to be informed beyond ‘I see other people sometimes, I’m polyam.’”

“Steve,” Nancy looks up from her textbook, fork halfway to her mouth, “we _talked_ about this. You need to clearly communicate to your partners about your relationship status.”

“He didn’t have a problem _before_.”

“That’s because I didn’t think I’ve ever _meet_ them, let alone have _breakfast_ with them.”

“Well then, to start,” Jonathan sits down at the table to join the rest of them, “All three of us used to date, though Steve and Nancy had sex, I just watched,” Jonathan leans against his fist while forking up food into his mouth. He just looks so tired.

Billy stops eating and stares at every other person at the table, Steve is the only one looking back at him and just gives him a big smile.

“Welcome to the family?”

Billy sighs and gets up to get more food and coffee.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay how was it? Did I do okay?


End file.
